Scots car sales up by 4.07% 06 | 10 | 2015

    SCOTTISH CAR DEALERSHIPS recorded a 4.07% increase in new car registrations in September, compared with the same month in 2014, recording 43,554 sales. In the first nine months of 2015, car sales in Scotland have increased from a total of 177,058 in 2014 to 180, 270 in 2015.

    “These results maintain Scotland’s year-on-year growth at 1.81% which, whilst being behind the rest of the UK which is running year-to-date up by 7.61%, is nonetheless most encouraging given the profile of dependence on our retail market with the larger fleet operators registering their fleets south of the border," Sandy Burgess, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said today.

    "We are now seeing some movement in the business car registration numbers which will help to maintain the activity for the coming months, as this has been quite quiet to date. 

    "Dealers have reported that the conditions in the month were 'challenging', but the fact such a level of growth has been recorded — despite the controversy that was raised in the middle of the month with the VW emissions issue — it is obvious the active marketing and strong incentives have maintained the momentum which should mean that 2015 will finish ahead of 2014.”

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    Across Scotland, Vauxhall continues to dominate sales, with 23,206 units leaving the forecourts, representing 12.87% of the Scottish market. Ford retains its place in second, with 21,040 sales, down 657 on the same period last year, at 21,040.

    The top five in Scotland is completed by Volkswagen (15,131 units), Audi (10,606) and Renault (9378). All, apart from Ford, saw a growth in sales.

    The Vauxhall Corsa continues to be Scotland's leading seller, with 2871 units sold, compared to 2135 over the same period last year. It's followed by the Ford Fiesta (1871), Renault Clio (1299), VW Polo (1281) and Ford Focus 1250). The VW Golf slipped to sixth place with 1182 sales.

    Across the regions, Fife saw the largest month-on-month increase compared with 2014, with a growth of 9.26% from 1997 last year to 2182 in 2015, closely followed by Strathclyde, up 8.97% from 21,661 to 23,605 this year.

    However, over the opening nine months this year, while Grampian has seen a drop of 9.22% from 19,096 last year to 17,336 in 2015, Strathclyde has seen the largest growth, up 4.95% from 89,174 to 93,584 in 2015.

    Related: Roadtest — Vauxhall Corsa 1.0T

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    Jim McGill

     

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